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Hello to all the wonderful Ketron users and welcome to issue number 35 of Ketron News and Tips (KNAT). This issue is targeted for January 1, 2004. So I am starting off the new year by being late. I hope this does not establish a precedent. I enjoy being on time and feel a lot of pressure when I am late.
This is the first issue this year. I want to take time to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
I am going to depart from some of the tips I have given you before. I don't usually give computer advice, but this time I feel I must. Spyware is taking over our internet and we can do something about it. In the tips section are directions for using the best anti-spyware program available at the moment. It is called Ad-aware and there is a free version which my tips are geared to.
If you have a question to ask or a tip to submit, please let me know at jay@ketronus.com. Also I love your comments so don't hesitate to let me have a response.

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In this Issue:
Band-In-A-Box New Version Released
Style Works 2000 New Pricing
Tips: How to fight Spyware
Quotes: Just for fun
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Style Works Upgrade
First to let you know: Style Works 2000 is currently in stock. All orders have been filled, but this software is getting much harder to keep in stock. I can't believe how well it is received.
Now the bad news. Due to the rate of exchange between U. S. Currency and the Euro the price has taken a substantial jump. Actually the price of the software from EMC is the same as it was, but would still cost more because of currency conversion. Still the software gets better all the time and I believe that when the value of the Euro drops against the U. S. Dollar the prices may come back down.
For every one who has purchased the Style Works 2000, either Universal or Solton/Ketron the upgrade to allow XD9/3 styles is posted. This is soon to be followed by an upgrade that allows import/export function. Here is a description from the EMC web site.
In the new version (V 1.87, 30.06.03) the efficiency of the Style Editor has once again been improved, part length changes are now available. Further the formats of Ketron XD9 and Kawai CP have been added, the delay occurring during playback start with Windows XP has also been removed (resp. there is workaround for this problem). We are currently working on the Tyros Update (Tyros is now installed) and on the implementation of the automatic part recognition in the Song To Style Converter. The next new module will be the import/export function.
For Universal version users the Tyros mapping is included.
And here is an upgrade I a very enthused about. Directly from Klaus:
You can create a reference map for volumes, velocity etc. for a certain style or a general one. This map should be created from internal styles (save to disk and then load into the new Reference Map Editor). Style Works then creates a min/max/avg value for velocity, volume, expression, reverb and chorus for each sound and min/max/avg for each drum note.
Now when converting styles the new data will be corrected in such a way that
it matches the values in the reference map. Doing so the overall mix should go
well together with the internal styles and also the mix within a style should
give very reasonable results without a manual correction. I am not yet sure
how much improvement this will be, but I am very optimistic.

If this does what I envision you should be able to convert from one machine type to another and do the rebalancing on the fly. One of the biggest time consumers is that the various brands and models of instruments do not have the same volume on certain instruments. This is very noticeable between bass and drums. I am really anxious to try this out.
You can get to the downloads page of the web site at the following address:
http://www.emc-musicsoftware.de/updates/updates.html

BAND-IN-A-BOX
We are announcing that the new BIAB which is called Band-in-a-Box 2004 has been released. I have ordered many copies of this version and it has arrived and all specials will now refer to this version. It is now installed on my computer and a trial run has been very pleasing. I love the new interface and there are some incredible features. You can find out more at http://www.ketronus.com/biab.html. Just to let you know how far this has come, you can now add vocal harmony to your vocal track much like the Ketron Vocalizer.
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TIPS
Parasites on your computer
If you browse the internet you may have parasites on your computer. If you download files you probably have parasites. If you indulge in peer-to-peer file sharing you definitely have parasites.
What is a parasite? The following information is found at http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/. You can also check your browser for some parasites there.
‘Parasite’ is a term for “unsolicited commercial software” — that is, a program that gets installed on your computer which you never asked for, and which does something you probably don’t want it to, for someone else’s profit.

The parasite problem has grown enormously recently, and many millions of computers are affected. Unsolicited commercial software can typically:

plague you with unwanted advertising (‘adware’);
watch everything you do on-line and send information back to marketing companies (‘spyware’);
add advertising links to web pages, for which the author does not get paid, and redirect the payments from affiliate-fee schemes to the makers of the software (such software is sometimes called ‘scumware’);
set browser home page and search settings to point to the makers’ sites (generally loaded with advertising), and prevent you changing it back (‘homepage hijackers’);
make your modem (analogue or ISDN) call premium-rate phone numbers (‘dialer's);
leave security holes allowing the makers of the software — or, in particularly bad cases, anyone at all — to download and run software on your machine;
degrade system performance and cause errors thanks to being badly-written;
provide no uninstall feature, and put its code in unexpected and hidden places to make it difficult to remove.
I believe the best way to fight this problem is to get it off your computer. So here are a set of tips for using what I believe to be the best free software out. It is called Ad-aware and it is from Lavasoft in Germany.
Go to: http://www.lavasoft.de
In the left side menu click on "Download"
Under AD-AWARE 6 STANDARD EDITION choose one of the Full Install sites. (Tucows is friendly)
Download from the light blue box by clicking on your Operating System.
Choose your State from the drop-down menu.
Click either of the choices and when the "File Download" box pops up, click "Save"
When the "Save As" box pops up choose "Desktop" from the drop down menu. This will save file "aaw6181.exe" to your desktop. (if it is named aaw6.exe just follow the same directions)
After the download finishes close the browser windows and double click "aaw6181.exe". This will install Ad-aware on your computer.
After installing, click the icon and open Ad-aware. Before running click "Check for updates now" located above the start button in the lower right.
In the pop-up box click "Connect"
If the resulting pop-up box says "New reference-file available!" click OK
A new reference file will download rapidly. Choose "Finish" and your new file will be installed. You absolutely should run this update every time you use Ad-aware and you should use Ad-aware at least every couple of days.
Click "Start" and then choose "Perform smart system-scan"
Click "Next"
Usually new objects will be found.. In that case click "Next" again. A list of files will appear. If you have a lot of objects skip to step 16. Otherwise, if the items found are NOT checked, click in the little box to the far left of each line. This will put a green check in the box. Click "Next and a pop-up box will say "xx objects will be removed. Continue?" Click OK.
If there are many items found and are NOT checked (look at far left column), right-click on any item and click on “Select all objects”. This will put a green check in the box. Click "Next and a pop-up box will say "xx objects will be removed. Continue?" Click OK.
The "Start" button will reappear and you are done.
You should also run the “Use custom scanning options” on a regular basis. Click in that radio button to select it. (This is on the page immediately after you click the Start button.)
Then click on the Customize link and you will get a new page.
In the “Drives and Folders” box make sure the top of the three buttons is red, the other two gray.
In the “Memory and Registry” box make all five buttons green. Then click proceed and do the scan as above starting with step 14.
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TIP #2
Rotor ON
A recent question had to do with why the Rotor On effect doesn't work sometimes and does other times.
For instance on the X1/4 Sounds in Bank 1, Organ 1 which is Leslies doesn't seem to take the effect while Organ 2, Jazz Organ does.
If you listen closely to Leslies you will realize that the sample has full rotor at high speed already on it. In the case of Jazz Organ, the sample does not have rotor on it so it can be added with good results. Any of the Virtual Drawbar settings can use the rotor just fine.
If you listen carefully, even without rotor you may notice a variation in the sound. If you go to effects F2 and press F7 Chorus and use the -/+ value buttons you can turn off the chorus.
This is a global setting for the keyboard so nothing will have chorus while it is off. This may be a useful setting for recording at times, but it is a light effect and gives a nice ambience while it is on.
I hope this explains the "Rotor Crisis".

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As you may know, I put out this newsletter free of charge and I hope to continue to do so. However, I am not independently wealthy and I am forced to derive an income from somewhere. I am a Ketron dealer and I hope to be able to sell to you, my Ketron friends, the products and accessories that you need. I can promise you that no one will beat my price and still maintain the level of service and support that I try to give. To this end you will be my sponsors in what I hope will be a informative and fruitful endeavor for many years to come.
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Visit me at www.ketronus.com. Or email me at jay@ketronus.com

QUOTE SECTION
(Sometimes funny, sometimes thought provoking, but always worth the time)

"It is getting harder all the time to tell which sex the 'opposite' one is." -- Clerd Farnsworth

"Problems are only opportunities in work clothes." -- Henry Kaiser

"Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold - but so does a hard-boiled egg."
--Anon.

"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have." --Margaret Mead

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